The election that should never have happened

Nominations have closed for the contest that should never have happened – the election of British members for the next session of the European Parliament.

After the UK voted to leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum, Brexit was due to be completed on March 31st, but as every reader will know by now, this has been postponed repeatedly and might never happen.

As a consequence, there will be European Parliamentary elections in the UK on May 23rd, just as in the rest of Europe (though some countries will not vote until May 26th).

The continuing confusion in Parliament over Brexit has been mirrored in the lists of candidates, with numerous contenders competing for the loyalties of both confirmed Brexiteers and Remainers.

UKIP leader Gerard Batten (left) with ex-EDL leader Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (alias ‘Tommy Robinson’) whose increasingly close relationship with the party prompted Nigel Farage to resign, but who was denied a place on any of UKIP’s candidate lists.

On the Brexit side, the United Kingdom Independence Party has suffered splits in several directions, and only three of its MEPs are seeking re-election under UKIP colours – party leader Gerard Batten in London, Stuart Agnew in Eastern England, and Mike Hookem in Yorkshire & Humber.

Several candidates from the wilder fringes of anti-Islamist politics have joined UKIP during the past year or two, and some are standing as Euro-candidates, including the controversial YouTube self-publicists Carl Benjamin (aka Sargon of Akkad) and Mark Meechan (aka Count Dankula).

For so far unexplained reasons, UKIP’s most controversial recent ally – convicted fraudster and former EDL leader Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka ‘Tommy Robinson’) was denied a place on any of UKIP’s regional slates. He will be standing as an Independent in North West England, where he will be competing with at least three rival Brexiteer slates – UKIP, the Brexit Party (founded by former UKIP leader Nigel Farage) and the English Democrats.

‘Robinson’ has no connection to the North West, so he presumably thinks this region gives him the best chance of getting elected – he is following the carpetbagging path of Nick Griffin, who similarly headed for the North West and won election to the European Parliament in 2009.

Robin Tilbrook, leader of the English Democrats, one of at least three parties competing for the pro-Brexit vote this year.

The EDs are fighting four regions: Eastern England (where their slate is headed by party leader Robin Tilbrook); South West England; Yorkshire & Humber; and the North West.

Opinion polls suggest that Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party is well ahead of other pro-Brexit parties, although candidate lists have only just been announced, so no one can tell what impact Farage’s rather odd choice of candidates will have on voters.

For example, North West voters might be rather disturbed by the presence of Claire Fox, a veteran Marxist and pro-IRA campaigner, at the head of the Brexit Party slate. Ms Fox was for many years a leading member of the Revolutionary Communist Party, and another RCP veteran – Alka Sehgal Cuthbert – is standing for Farage’s party in the London region.

H&D will carry regular updates on this site during the election campaign, as well as results and analysis after votes are counted on May 26th.

Results from other European countries are likely to be a lot more interesting than those in the UK – and a lot more positive for the cause of racial nationalism. We will of course be giving extensive coverage to these European developments, starting in preview articles next week and with a detailed country-by-country analysis in the next edition of the magazine.